Friday, October 24, 2014

Spotted in Berkeley…

Walking down Bancroft Way across from the UC Berkeley Campus I was surprised to see a certain national retailer who’s been facing criticism for some of its questionable choices (and suffering for it) was featuring CMU planter walls in their current displays.

They’re supposed to be cutting edge, ahead of the pack. Don’t they know these things were all over the garden blogs back in 2011? Three years ago!

As I was snapping these photos I had a flashback to criticism I read about these DIY creations, it mentioned their lack of a grounding footing, rebar and mortar – basically indicating they’re an accident waiting to happen.

I wonder if students all across campus are building similar displays in their dorm rooms?

I wonder where they found those concrete cylinders?

I wonder if this is part of the official visual merchandising outline or improvisation with an extra?

27 comments:

When I first saw this I thought it was going to be Crate & Barrel. But that last shot into the store had me convinced it was Abercrombie & Fitch. Nope! Guess there's a lot of retail outfits with image problems. I have also heard similar complaints about these concrete block constructions.

These look tacky to me, but when Pam did them, I liked them. Either I am in thrall to her influence or it really does matter who is doing the DYIing.Similarly, I've been admiring several uses of bottle borders but am up in the air about the one I've started. R. is firmly in the "tacky" column. I'm thinking it's too soon to tell, but a lot of work if I'm eventually going to tear it out.

That one is so tall, with those tempting "steps" for climbing, that I can only hope they secured it to the wall to keep passing kids from climbing on it. Aside from that issue, I like these planter walls, as you know, and have had a low one in my own garden for several years.

I didn't want to test it (can you imagine being the one who knocked it over?) to hard but I don't think it was secured. (I was going to link to yours in the text but then discovered Annette did and her link had more images so that's why I used hers)

I hate HATE working with cement. We've done it twice (footings for the shade pavilion and footings for the trellis) and it's messy icky work. This is one time I would pay extra to not have to DIY it.

I read the old lady line of thinking/criticism as meaning the thing in question is outdated, not current and cutting edge. Yesterday's trend. The kiss of death for those who must be seen to be hip. Is that bad? Only if you think so.

Ouch! That article. Looking at that mountain of concrete (which as you say is an accident waiting to happen) in front of all that glass makes me nervous. That aside, I don't mind them in the right setting.

Ha! No Urban Otf. here, though there are some trendy versions for various demographics. Not sure how many good settings that close to the San Andreas Fault without some reinforcement, but here with such a low earthquake potential, I could see some UTEP hispters with such planters in their apts, dorms, etc. If I were into those, it would be agaves all the way!

I enjoy working with concrete! Maybe we should have a concrete cylinder making party in your driveway. The planters are cool but I'd like to see some cascading succulents (not like falling over in the earthquake) hanging down as well. How about painting them terra cotta?